Divine Rebirth
by Kingfish
Summary: My first fic. An interesting story about a young war-exausted solider who falls alsleep one night and wakes up a different person. The 1st chapter is extremely short, but the 2nd should make make up for that. 3 is on the way, so please R&R.
1. Final Rest

Chapter 2: Metamorphosis

I awoke to the sensation of a cool breeze blowing over my entire body. I shivered a bit, being that it was unusually cold. I opened my eyes and, to my surprise, found myself looking up at a clear blue sky instead of the dilapidated ceiling of the shack I had spent the night in. 

" ...The hell?" 

I sat up, still looking at the sky, trying to figure out what was going on. The only thing I knew right then was that I wasn't in the shack anymore and that the temperature was cooler than the humid jungle climate I had been accustomed to in the Philippines. "_ Have I been sleepwalking?" _It was a legitimate answer, but highly improbable. I had never sleepwalked in my life. I stood up and stretched, wiggling my feet. "_Wow, this ground sure is soft,"_ I observed as I looked downward. 

I froze. 

I was looking at the lumpy white surface that I had been standing on. Whatever it was, it was cool, soft, and somewhat moist. I stared at my feet with awe as I lifted my right one up and put it down again, watching the white surface mold comfortably into it's shape. This had to be a dream, but it felt so real. I walked down the white surface to find that it cut off abruptly. Over the edge, I saw a series of greens that seemed to be a mile off. There was mostly dark greens, but in some places small blotches of light greens could be seen. I shook my head. _"Too weird."_

The cool breeze began to blow again, and I stood up and hugged my body while I shivered. Then I stopped in shock. I wasn't hugging my US Military standard fatigues. Instead, I was hugging bare skin. I swallowed hard as I looked down to see that I was completely naked. 

" Holy shit!" I gasped as I instinctively backed up in surprise and covered myself. 

This had to be a dream. I looked down at my body again to find that I had missed something else. My pectoral muscles, instead of being flat and bony like I had grown accustomed to over the years were big and muscular. And my stomach that was white and a little caved in due to the poor eating during the six months of my time in the Philippines was flat and tightly formed into an impressive six pack. I stuck one of my legs out to find that it was endowed with a sizable calf muscle and rippling quads. I then scanned up past my legs to find...

"...WHOA!"

Yes, this body was _definitely _much better equipped than the one I had previously, if of course this wasn't a dream, which I still believed it was. I shook my head and looked at my arms, which were of course enlarged with nice biceps and triceps and bulging with long veins. The best part about it was that the entire length of my body was evenly tanned and all of the "magically" appeared muscles fit nicely in with my tall, lean physique. I looked up at the blue sky again, my jaw dropped in awe. "I don't know how this dream came about," I said to myself. " But I definitely could get used to it." A gust of wind came up again, and something silky and white whipped around my head and tickled my face. I grabbed a strand and examined it.

Hair. _My_ hair. White, silky, long, and unmatted. As far as I knew, everything about me had changed. I was strong, tan, and...well endowed with other particular muscles. And I had long, white hair, which I later found out extended all the way to my lower back in thick, shiny strands . On top of that, I was in this weird place with a soft white ground and with a blue sky high over head. It _had _be a dream, but it felt so real. " _I don't want to wake up," _I thought. I didn't want to wake up to war, confusion, and total aloneness. _" Even if I don't have any clothes on." _

**__**

" We will take care of that problem later," a loud voice boomed above me.**_ "Now you should know what your new purpose is."_**

I jumped and instinctively covered my privates with my hands, looking all around to see where the voice was coming from. But I couldn't find anyone. I finally spoke to the voice in spite of my unawareness of his whereabouts. " W-who are you?" To be honest, I was petrified. Not only by the extreme volume of the voice, but by the ominous presence that could be felt all around me. There was silence for a moment, then it answered. 

**__**

" I am the Presence that governs all things, living and non-living." the voice boomed in reply. **_" You may know me by other names."_**

My eyes widened and the back of my spine was tingly as I realized who I was talking to. " You mean..." I said in near whisper. " ...you're the Lord?" 

**__**

"That is one of my names, yes." the Voice answered almost humorously. **_"But I am not here to talk about me, John."_**

I nodded slowly and looked at my body once more over. "Yes," I agreed. "Um..." I waited a moment to muster the courage to ask Him a question, which was surprisingly hard. 

**__**

" You want to know why your are different." 

My heart jumped as I realized he could see right through me. I hung my head and nodded nervously. 

**__**

" Don't be afraid to ask questions, child." He said. **_"You have a right to know these things." _**The Voice paused for a moment, then went on. **_"I changed the appearance of your shell so that you may be better equipped for the trials I have set before you." _**

Confusion swept over me as I referred to my body as a "shell". But as I thought about it, this term made a lot of sense. But there was still the whole "trials" bit that I didn't get. 

" ...What do you mean about "trials", Lord?" I asked him meekly. 

**__**

" I have granted your wish, John." He said calmly. Still loud, but calm. **_" But I have not granted it in it's entirety. You will still be at war, John. But you will be a different warrior, and you will fight a different war."_**

This answer only sent my mind reeling off with questions. Did this mean I wasn't going back to the Philippines? Will I be like this forever? How long will this "war" take? If and when I finished fighting the new "war", would I go back to fighting the old one? What if...

**__**

" I know you have many questions, John." The Voice cut in. **_"And they will all be answered in time. You know what you need to now. One of your problems is that you don't tend for the middle-child. Rather, you tend for eldest or the youngest."_**

I didn't quite know what he meant by that, but I decided to keep a leash on my inquisitive tendencies for the time being, anyway. But I did have one question that just couldn't wait. I lifted my head towards the cerulean blue sky. Towards the Voice.

" ...Is this a dream?"

**__**

" This is your wish, **_live it to the fullest."_**

As soon as He said that, a great gust of wind rose up out of nowhere, tearing moist chunks out of the soft, white ground and sending my hair flying in all directions. And just like that, it stopped. I knew He was gone. I was in shock about what just happened. About who I had just spoken with. 

__

" He granted my wish..." I thought traumatically. _"...but why?"_

This question was combated by my promise to put my queries on hold for while, which brought me back to my current situation. I was still naked in a strange place in a new body with no idea what to do next. I sighed as I pulled one hand up from my privates-shield and scratched my head.

" _Now _what?" I asked myself aloud. 

Just then, a movement in the strange white ground a few yards beside me caught my eye. I turned my head to see what it was, and back away in surprise. The ground beside me was _rising_. It was slowly beginning to build itself upwards in a thin, hill-shaped form.

"What the hell?!"

It was still rising. I watched in awe for about thirty seconds until it's steady pace stopped abruptly, froze for a few moments, and began to take shape. I watched for about another thirty seconds to find that it had turned into and four foot tall Romanesque pillar. I could only shake my head. This I had a feeling that I would see a lot more of this as my time in this body lengthened. That wasn't all. Now a smaller chunk of the soft ground separated itself and floated to the top of the pillar, rested on top of it, and began to take a new form as well. 

It was a phone. Small, white and plain. Much like the ones that I had used before, except for some strange reason it didn't have any dials. I first reasoned that it was some form of symbolism, trying to convey a message.

__

" Or that it's only meant to receive calls," an raspy, unrecognizable voice in my head cut in. 

I jumped in surprise. Someone, or some_thing_ had just talked to me _inside my head._ I knew I wasn't imagining things, the voice was too real. 

__

"Who are you?"

" Oh, don't mind me," the voice replied nonchalantly. _"I won't stick around for long, just think of me as a little...tutorial." _

"What?" I thought._ "Whaddya mean, _tutorial?_"_

"You'll find out soon enough. Get the phone."

* BRIIIIINNNGG!!!*

I jumped again. This kind of stuff definitely needed some getting used to. I stood there, frozen, not sure to pick up or not. The phone rang again.

__

*BRIIINNGGG!!!*

"Well?" the voice asked impatiently. _"Are you gonna pick up? Phones don't ring forever, y'know."_

I picked the receiver up and held it against my ear.

"...Hello?"

" Master Tyr, _mon ami_!" The smooth voice of a woman sang on the other end of the line. " You'll be happy to know that everything is in order for your departure to the Earthrealm."

I was immediately thrown into a vat of confusion. I couldn't seem to think of anything to say, so I didn't. The there was total silence for a moment.

" Tyr?" The woman asked. "Are you alright? You haven't been yourself for the past few days, are you sure you should go to the Earthrealm without coming down to the Main Operations Office for a VirusScan first?"

I was still totally speechless. I shook my head as I tried to think of something to say, but to no avail. I was in total shock. 

__

" C'mon, kid, she's talkin' to ya!" the voice in my head urged on. 

__

"She is?" I asked confusedly. _"But my name's not _Tyr."

__

"It is now," snapped the Tutorial. _"Now get your ass in gear. Answer her!"_

I shook my head again as I answered. " Uh...n-no. I'm fine."

"Are you sure Tyr?" The woman asked. She sounded genuinely worried about me.

"Uh, y-yes. I'm good."

"Alright..." The woman conceded. "I still don't like you rushing off to the Earthrealm like this. Some strange things have been happening there lately. I know what you're thinking, but I mean things that are _c'est bizarre._"

I really didn't know this girl on the other end of the line, but I felt the strong urge to comfort her.

" Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. R-really." I told her as confidently as I could. 

" I know..." she said, then she swung the subject into a brighter tone. "I've arranged for your replacement for the YDDT on your time away. Any special preferences?"

I didn't have a clue what she was talking about. I decided to play it cool anyway.

"Uh, no. Whatever you chose is fine."

"_Tres bon!_" The girl chimed. "I assume you're ready for teleportation..."

I froze. Teleportation. That meant I was going to be transported somewhere. I couldn't go anywhere, I was buck naked. 

"NO! I mean, heh, no." I answered nervously. How could I tell her about my predicament?

"You aren't?" The girl asked confusedly. "_Porquoi_?"

There was no way in getting out of this easily. I had to tell her.

"I'm....um...naked." I almost whispered into the receiver. 

"Ooooooo! I'm sorry I'm missing that!" she said playfully.

"C'mon," I said seriously. " ...What can I do?" It felt rather strange talking to this girl like I knew her, but something told me that I needed to. Even if she was being a bit uncomfortably playful with my misfortune.

"Well," she said. "Get some clothes on."

That was a stupid answer. There _weren't_ any clothes in this place, so how was I supposed to get some on? "What?"

"Oh _come now, _Tyr." the girl said. She sounded a bit annoyed. " You never were good at playing games. Besides, you can't get one over on your ol' pal Peorth! Just get some clothes on so we can get things underway here."

Her name sounded familiar, but I was too concentrated on the present situation to try and figure out why. I shook my head. Then I remembered the little "tutorial". 

__

" What the hell is she talking about?" I asked the voice in my head. Heh, the voice in my head. This was just too much.

__

" Rule number one about your new life, kid:" the voice replied. _"Almost everything you're gonna do is gonna hafta involve magic some way..."_

Magic? I urged the voice on. _"And?"_

"...And so you're gonna hafta get some threads by usin' a little magic." the voice answered patiently.

My eyebrows twisted in confusion. I didn't know how to use magic, I didn't even quite know what the voice was trying to say. Did this mean I had magical powers? On the other end of the phone line, "Peorth" was getting testy.

"C'mon, Tyr!" she said in a half-shout, half-giggle. "Stop looking at your manhood and get some clothes on!"

I ignored her and turned my attention back to the Tutorial. _"How do I do it?"_

I thought I heard the voice sigh, but I wasn't sure. _"You've got a lot to learn, kid." _it replied. _"Okay, I'll do it for you this time, but I still need some actions on your part. You need both hands for this, so put the phone down for a sec." _

I nodded and spoke to Peorth, who was still making quasi-sexual jabs at me.

"Hold on, I'm going to get changed."

" It's about time, Mr. Centerfold." Peorth jeered. I ignored that last comment and put the phone down. Whoever she was, she sure seemed familiar.

" Now_ what?" _I asked the Tutorial. 

__

" Okay, these are the basics for casting a spell on yourself," the voice instructed. _" First, clasp your hands together and put them to your chest..."_

I hesitated a bit, then did so. _"Okay..."_

"Now, stand straight and firm. Then close your eyes." 

After I had done so, the voice immediately cut in before I could think anything. _"Now, this is when you concentrate on what spell you want to cast. Remember, _all_ spells must be cast from the heart, or it will be worthless. I'll do it for you this time because we're a little rushed, but you're on your own from now on as far as casting self-spells goes. Are you ready?"_

I exhaled heavily and nodded. "...Yes," I said out loud.

There was complete silence for a moment, then I began to hear a faint, high-pitched electric whining. As it grew louder, I began to feel a strange force that rushed upwards against my body. It felt almost like air, except warm and a lot denser. To say the least, the feeling was intense. I felt almost nauseated from all the excitement. As the "wind" and the whining sound began wind down, I slowly opened my eyes and saw that the last of a serene blue light was fading out as well. I waited a few seconds after the experience to take it all in, then looked down. 

I was a little shocked and confused by the Tutorial's clothing selection. I had black boots on to match my tight black pants, but there were metal shin armor plates as well as upper leg armor plates that fit all around my legs . Above my red jewel-crested belt, I had a tight black long-sleeved shirt on, but above that was a semi-circle breastplate that fit like a taco around my shoulders and protected my back and chest. All of my armor brilliantly shone with a silver luster and was riddled with intricate snaky designs which concentrated around the center of each armor piece, and on my breastplate they concentrated around a large black dome-shaped gem that was in the center. Both of my arms were covered by the black shirt, and there were armored wristplates on them as well with black fingerless gloves. I reached around the back of my head to find that my long hair was bound into a ponytail by a thick metal ring and two long strands of bangs hung outwards a little and flowed freely down both sides of my face. It reminded me of the hair style the character Sephiroth from _Final Fantasy VII _had. And to top it all off, a long and wide red cape with gold trim spread out from the shoulder clasps of my breast plate to the ground. 

Despite this unusual clothing style, it seemed familiar someway. I stopped for a moment and looked at the clear blue sky as a growing suspicion grew inside of me. These unusual, _god-_like clothes, my new name was Tyr and this woman named Peorth, both Nordic mythology names and runes, and...I gasped as I finally realized this strange place I was in. The soft white ground, the greens far away. I was on a _cloud_, in the _heavens_. This was all adding up, but I needed one more thing to confirm my suspicions.

__

" Hey," I asked the Tutorial. _"Can you conjure up a mirror for me?"_

" Sorry, kid." he answered. _"I already told you you're on your own for self-casting now. If you want a mirror you've gotta do it yourself. Anyway, you've got that girl waitin' on the phone, and I'll bet my last dollar that she's fed up with waiting for you to get over yourself right now." _

I nodded in agreement and picked up the phone receiver again. "Okay, I'm changed."

" It took you long enough." Peorth snorted. "Why were you naked in the first place, _ma cheri?_"

"We can talk about that some other time," I answered evasively. She probably wouldn't understand if I told her. "Now where were we?"

"Oh yes, you're ready for teleportation now are you? Seriously Tyr, only those of _lower_ class use this method of transportation." she said with a hint of disgust. " I don't see why you don't just warp yourself to the Earthrealm. You're certainly powerful enough."

That one struck me like a ton of bricks. I didn't even know what this new body was capable of. I fumbled for word for a few seconds until Peorth cut in.

" I guess you have your reasons. Anyway, hold on while I bring up these coordinates." There was the sound of fingers tapping on a keyboard for a few moments and Peorth came back on, sounding angry and surprised. "You wanna go to the all the way to the Earthrealm to see _that _kid?! Geez, I hope you aren't looking to start a relationship with him. I already tried that..."She trailed off, mumbling a few profanities. I was a little taken back by that outburst. But despite the fact that I didn't know what she was talking about, I instinctively defended my sexual preference. 

" It's nothing like that! I..."

I stopped right there, once again failing for words. I didn't know enough to give her a good excuse, but I did have a good suspicion that tied in with my original one, one that I intended to finalize when I got off the phone. But thankfully, Peorth cut in again.

"It was a joke, Tyr." she said. "I know why, anyway. I'll admit that _I_ wanted to see what the fuss was all about when I found out he was living with three of our kind, too. It's pretty unbelievable when you think about it." 

" Yeah, sure is." I blindly agreed. "Well, I guess I'm ready."

" Okay Tyr," she said. "I'll suppose I'll see you when you get back. Unless you want to call me sometime..."

The tone in her voice when she said that was quite inviting and, to be honest, kinda sexy for some reason. Could there have been something going on between us before I was put in to this body? I decided to accept her suggestion to keep my options even.

" Okay," I said flatly. "I'll call you." Even though I didn't _know _her number. I guessed that would be one of my questions for the Tutorial.

"Great!" Peorth said cheerfully. "Have a good trip to the Earthrealm, _ma desse_! Be careful!"

" I will," I promised. God, it sounded like I knew this girl since we were kids. _"It wouldn't surprise me if we did."_ I thought as I put this new body of mine into the perspective. 

"Locking coordinates," a computerized voice on the other end of the line said in the background. "Confirming user identification. User Peorth confirmed. Confirming subject identification. Subject Tyr confirmed. Locking access code confirmed. Resuming program."

"_Au revoir,_ Tyr!" Peorth sang. 

"...Bye." 

She hung up. I stood there for a moment, listening to the dial tone for a moment. I didn't know what to do next.

__

" Hang up the phone, kid." the Tutorial said. "_You're goin' for a little ride."_

I held on to the phone. "_Hey, hold on a minute. I have a few questions for you..."_

" We'll have time for Q and A when we get to where we're goin'," the Tutorial cut me off. That seemed to be happening to me a lot. _"Just hang up the phone."_

I opened my mouth to protest, but all that came up was a sigh of reluctant compliance as I set the receiver back into the cradle. I couldn't argue with the guy, he knew more about my situation than I did. And if my suspicions were right, he was sent by the Lord.

__

"Alright," the voice said. _"Here we go."_

I sat for a moment in pure silence, waiting for the unknown. But just then my eyes caught a glimmer of bright light high above me. I looked up and found that a small circle of light was set rotating slowly high above. My eyes widened a little bit in fear as the circle began to get brighter and spin faster, but I almost crapped my pants when it began to get bigger. That's when I noticed the same high pitched electronic sound as the circle got closer and closer. Then it finally engulfed me. The sound was enormous, but these new ears of mine were able to handle it and these new eyes likewise handled the brilliant light very well as I was certain that my old eyes and ears would not. The ground suddenly gave out from under me, and all of the sudden I found myself, well, _sliding_ on this bright surface as if it were some divine new tunnel slide at a water park. The feeling was incredible, like the feeling you get in your bladder when you go down a steep incline in a car magnified ten times. And it seemed to last hours, and my body seemed to be going hundreds of miles an hour. Finally, I began to slow down and the "slide" began to get more vertical. Then, I felt my feet touch the ground, which felt very comforting, and the sound and light began to fade. When the light faded out and the sound died completely, I got a good look at where I was. 

I first found my feet resting on the green grass that they were accustomed to, which was good. But as I scanned outward, I found that I was on high ground, a knoll perhaps, over looking a small cramped city with rectangular houses built into the sides of rocky hills. However, this hill seemed to be free of all that claustrophobic atmosphere. It almost felt on top of the world itself, with a soft cool breeze passing gently over it. A big shady oak tree rested to the south, over looking the hill with a lazy swing in its branches. I turned around to see a big building of eastern architectural design. It was white with a brown roof and with a makeshift garage out to the side. I shook my head in wonder as the strange sense of familiarity began to creep over me once more. I had definitely seen this somewhere, and I think I knew where I saw it. 

"Yeah. _Yeah_." I said out loud. "It's all adding up now..."

I knew where I was now. I was still confused as to why, but I knew where.

" I'm in Japan..." I said softly. " At Ke..."

"What're _you_ doing here?!" the voice of a woman rang out behind me.

----------------------------------------------

I jumped in surprised and whirled around to see the tan, shapely figure of a woman. Her arms were folded in a white silk robe that went down to her knees and a black tube one piece dress ran under it, stopping at the thigh. Her face, needless to say, was beautiful with emerald green eyes and distinct blue triangular markings on the cheeks and forehead that were smoothed out at the angles and long platinum hair flowed freely down to her legs. But those beautiful features were now in complete shock. 

"I mean, what in the name of Yggdrasil possessed you to get off your high-chair and come to the Earthrealm, of all places?!" she asked me, half-yelling.

I stood there for a moment, not noticing that she said anything, for I was in deep shock too. She was _here_, in front of _me,_ in the freaking _flesh._ She was the goddess Urd. All I could do was stare at her wide-eyed, my mouth a gaping hole.

"Well just don't stand there and look like a fish, answer me!" Urd demanded.

__

"You're doing it again, kid." the Tutorial shamed. _"Can't you give somebody a straight answer without blowing a brain fuse?"_

"It's...it's her._ Here, in the flesh."_ I thought trancedly. 

__

"Yeah, it's Urd, I know." he said. _"But you gotta answer her, unless you want her to think you're a retard. Just say your here on business."_

"Hey! Urd to Tyr!" she yelled. 

When I finally got a hold of myself, I realized Urd was waving her hand frantically in front of my face.

"What's the hell's gotten into you?!"

I shook my head one final time and answered.

"I'm here on business." I told her quickly. I almost lost myself again looking into her mesmerizing emerald eyes, but I got control before I could. 

She folded her arms and looked speculatively at me for a moment. "Business? What kind of business?"

"It's a long story," I lied. I would have to get some answers from the Tutorial before I could deal with that. What was more, she also recognized my body and knew my name. "We can talk about it later."

To my relief, she agreed. "Fine," she concurred with a nod of her head. "What I really wanna know right now is why you showed up here, instead of somewhere else in the Earthrealm."

I waited a minute to see if the Tutorial would help me out, but it looked like I was on my own for this one. I thought quickly. "Uh, well, I caught wind that you and your sisters were staying here, and I thought this would be a great place to crash during my stay." I answered.

Urd narrowed her eyes a bit and looked at me. I was afraid that I had said something wrong. Maybe Belldandy and Skuld weren't living there as I assumed. Maybe she didn't have any sisters at all. There was no way of telling. 

"Well, I'm not sure how Belldandy or the rest of the bunch'll take it, so I don't know if that's such a good idea." she replied. "But when they get back from the store we can talk about it." I sighed inwardly with relief, glad that my assumptions were correct. 

"That's fine," I said to her, glad that her little inquisition was over. But that didn't let up a little of the excitement. I now knew part of what the Lord had granted me, and yet it was still to be determined how I could utilize such an advantage. Or how it could hurt me. Urd had obviously recognized me deep in thought and confronted me on it.

"Tyr? You alright?" she asked. "You sure are acting strange." She stood there, her arms still folded and her white eyebrow cocked. 

The recess from the questionnaire had been short lived. I thought quickly, and words began to spill out of my mouth. "Uh, I had a bumpy trip on the teleportation." I lied nervously as I scratched the back of head. "You know how outdated those things are."

Urd nodded, but her eyes were still locked on me in a speculative sense. "Uh huh. But you should have been able just to warp yourself here on your own power," she countered. "Why didn't you?" 

"Well, y'know." I answered blindly. "I decided to check it out for myself. I mean, it's been so long since I last used it. We shouldn't let the less powerful get the worst treatment, should they?"

Urd's inquisitive visage suddenly turned into a surprised smirk. "Geez, that's not like you at all," she grinned. "Since when did the all powerful and busy Tyr start even thinking about lower class gods?"

I shrugged. I decided to let my own nature play into this conversation and it looked like it was working out, kinda. Unless she was going to turn this around into another barrage of questions, I was okay. To my relief, she simply kept grinning.

"I suppose time does change just about everybody, does it?" she said, her spellbinding green eyes fixed on mine. That look made me nervous.

"I...guess so." I said hesitantly. I then remembered her special divine duties. "You should know better than anyone, Urd."

To my surprise, I watched as her hands dug tightly into her arms as she crossed them, her face displaying and angry grimace.

"And just what the hell is _that _supposed to mean?"

"What? Hey, whoa! Th, that came out the wrong way!"

"Oh, really?" her scowl tightened.

"No! I mean, yes! Well, you've...you're the Norn of the Past I mean! You should know about how time changes people, right?"

" I suppose that's true, but does that mean I can't change as well?"

"Yeah, sure! Anyone can change."

Urd nodded, grinning as she asked the next grueling question. "So...have I?"

Great. Just great. I knew Urd too before I obtained possession of this body. Now, supposedly eons after our last encounter, she wants to know if she'd changed or not. I had no freakin' idea. It was then that I decided to encounter her on her little interrogation session before I had to answer that.

"You're really enjoying this, aren't you?" I said with as much anger as I could muster. I had to cover up my fear.

She smiled innocently, pushing a lock of her platinum hair behind her ear. "What do you mean?"

"Your little Spanish Inquisition you've had going on me ever since I got here. How about a 'Hello, Tyr. How are you?', instead of an endless tirade of questions. You could show a little more hospitality towards a tired traveler, y'know."

Urd nodded. "Yeah, I guess I could. But that would mean that I've changed. And honey," she leaned over, her dark, glossy lips moving to my ear. "...I haven't." 

At first, I hadn't a clue what she meant by that, or why she had gotten so close to me to say it. But when I felt 


	2. Metamorphosis

Divine Rebirth

****

Chapter One: Final Rest

Long story short, I was in the Philippines. I was war, and the China had once again challenged the western world to a fight. But this one was going to be to the death. The Chinese had outstretched their hands across Asia in a matter of months, giving America and her allies little time to react. The draft had been enstated immediately, and I was one of the lucky people. I was sent to the these godforesaken islands to defend the door to the West, period. I'm not going to spend a whole lot of time to explain my last days as, well, me, because the story I have to tell does not render my time here as very important. I am going to start at about two months into my service, were we had just secured a small village deep in the jungle... 

I walked outside and stretched, looking at my surroundings. The hot jungle sun was slowly tucking itself into the green horizon as the smoke from the smoldering huts rose up and distorted the yellow orb's last rays of light. I then began to walk eastward down the dirt roads to find a shelter that wasn't already full so that I might have a place to sleep for the night. On the way I saw Mike Anderson, a private first class, who had sat in the middle of the road to pull some rations out of his pack. I stopped briefly to ask him if he saw any vacant shelters that I may use. He nodded and pointed at a white concrete shack about a hundred yards away. 

"That un's open." he replied in a thick country accent. He was from Alabama. "It ain't too spacious though. I think the Chinese were usin' it as some sorta supply depot." I thanked him and started towards the shack. Mike nodded and tore into some crackers and cheese that he had finally found. I opened the door and took a look inside. The place wasn't lighted at all, but I could see from the little light that the setting sun cast out that Mike wasn't over exaggerating at all. The inside had been literally stuffed with....stuff. Not a thing that I could see in there was of any value to me or the platoon. But it was a shelter. I sat down on the steps of the front and opened my pack. I pulled out two lanterns and set them inside. This lighted up the shack a great deal, and I got a better idea of what this place was full of. 

Books. Tons and tons of books stuffed within the tiny recesses of the shack. I was confounded. "_Why would the Chinese load a shack up with books like this?" _I thought to myself. Most of them were in Chinese and Japanese, but some of them were in English too. I also noticed something else that was strange about them. Not one of them was worn. All of them that I could see had a glossy hardback cover and white pages. Then it struck me. "These books are stolen." I said out loud. Stolen. Probably to make money for themselves. This was the first time I had seen something like this. I then decided that the reason that they had been stuffed in there in an disorderly manner was because they were put there in a hurry. They had probably meant to burn the shack to destroy the evidence but never got to it. I had to report it, but it was dark and I decided it could wait till tomorrow. 

I unrolled my cot laid on top of it, it was too hot to get under the covers. I left the lantern on and stared at the ceiling. I wanted to go home. I didn't want to fight anymore. I didn't want to see anybody dead anymore. Not even the Chinese. I thought of my own bed at home. I never knew how much I really liked it until I was lying in a shack in the middle of a jungle in the Philippines. I then started to think about what had went on that day. The explosions, the gunfire. The blood. I had gotten used to them all, but I still hated them. I hated them. 

I couldn't go to sleep. This always happened. I let myself think too much. I sat up and looked at the huge clutter of books. I then began to dig through them. 

I found alot of things. The Art of War by Sun Tzu, The Death of a Salesman, Frankenstein by Mary Shelly. But I wanted light reading, and these books that I had found didn't exactly fall into that category. I then saw a small red rectangular box at the corner of the shack hiding behind some Japanese chemistry textbooks. In hopes of finding something lighter than I had been finding, I crawled over to the box on my hands and knees and picked it up. I turned it around on all sides, trying to figure out what was in it without bothering to open it. But there weren't any markings big enough to see with the lantern light beginning to dim, so I had to open it. I tore the top of the box open and emptied it's contents onto the floor. 

Twelve paperback books fell out and landed on the cold concrete. Manga. These were Japanese comics, apparently a series. I picked up one of them and held it close to the lantern as I looked at the cover. "Oh My Goddess!" by Kosuke Fujishima. I scanned downward to see a beautiful illustration of a girl, dressed in a magnificent red summer dress. What struck me the hardest about her was her long honey-brown hair and the strange blue diamond shaped markings on her forehead and cheekbones. I opened the book up to the first page and scanned breifly over it. "Thank God, it's in English." I thought to myself. I could finally catch some real R and R without having to translate it.

I silently savored the first book, but I became so caught up in the story I began to blow through the second and third books like wildfire. 

Soon, I was totally captured by the whole story. A goddess, Belldandy, coming to help a lonely college kid and falling in love with him. It was incredible, at least it was to me. I guess the beautiful illustration of the manga helped in that. I thought that Urd and Skuld were a great addition to the story too, being that they brought more humor and complexity to the story. And just like that, I finished reading all of them. It seemed like it took only minutes to finish them. "_ I guess I liked it a lot,"_ I thought as I lay back down on my cot, staring up at the shabby ceiling of the shack. "_I wish I wasn't here,"_ I thought._ " I don't want to see death anymore. I don't want to be powerless anymore. I don't want to be _alone_ anymore." _At first, that last thought just popped into my mind and I didn't understand it. But yes, I was alone, at least in the way that I needed someone most.

I felt tears begin to well up in my eyes as I thought of this. I was a bit surprised, I hadn't cried in years. But I let them come, I needed it. "I wish..." I said aloud between sobs. " That I had what Keiichi Morisato has. I wish that I could get away from all this." The crying must have been really taxing on my body because I suddenly felt tired. "_It's late anyway..."_ I thought as I closed my eyes. And with tears streaming down my dirty, war ridden face, I fell asleep.


End file.
